1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate to a zoom lens system, and in particular, to a zoom lens system having a lens storage space for reducing the thickness of the zoom lens system and for selecting a lens group having a different performance according to purpose of use.
2. Description of the Related Art
Zoom lens systems form an image by passing image light through various optical elements and are widely used in photographing apparatuses such as digital cameras or video cameras. In addition, use of a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) enables manufacturing of small and thin photographing apparatuses. However, in order to manufacture thinner photographing apparatuses, components of the photographing apparatuses should have a small thickness.
A conventional zoom lens system may be a retractable zoom lens system or a folded-optics zoom lens system. According to the retractable zoom lens system, in order to manufacture slim photographing apparatuses, lenses protrude during photographing and retract into a body of a camera when not in use. According to the folded-optics zoom lens system, the thickness of a lens system is reduced by using a reflective element such as a prism to fold the optical path of the zoom lens system.
With regards to the retractable zoom lens system, a plurality of lens groups are aligned and movable along an optical axis, and when the zoom lens system is not in use, the lens groups retract into a body of a camera. In order to minimize the thickness of the zoom lens system, the lens groups are aligned with as little space as possible therebetween when the lens groups retract into the body of the camera.
However, the retractable zoom lens system has a structural limitation in that even when lens groups retract into a body of a camera, the thickness of the zoom lens system is not smaller than the sum of thicknesses of the lens groups.
Zoom lens systems have various optical characteristics according to the lens groups used. A user selects a zoom lens system according to purpose of use of a photographing apparatus. For example, if a user takes a landscape picture, the user selects a wide angle zoom lens system having an excellent wide-angle performance and a wide viewing angle, and if a user takes a picture of a distant subject, the user selects a tele-angle zoom lens system including lens groups having a narrow viewing angle and a long focal length. Thus, since the user needs to buy various zoom lens systems according to a photographing purpose, the photographing costs are increased and exchanging with a desired zoom lens system during photographing is inconvenient.